Lizz Wright

Jazz Vocalist

Lizz Wright is an American jazz singer and composer who hails from the small town of Hahira, Georgia; one of three children and the daughter of a minister and the musical director of their Church.

She started singing gospel music and playing piano in church as a child, and also became interested in jazz and blues. She attended Houston County High School, where she was heavily involved in choral singing, receiving the National Choral Award.

She went on to Georgia State University in Atlanta to study singing. Since then she has studied at The New School in New York, and in Vancouver. She currently resides outside Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Wright joined the Atlanta-based vocal quartet In the Spirit in 2000, which soon achieved critical acclaim, and in 2002 she signed a recording contact with Verve Records, where her musical compositions and vocal style led her to be compared to that of Norah Jones.

Her first album, Salt was released in the Spring of 2003 (and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz chart in 2004).

Her next release was not a follow-up of her debut, but this record maintained the jazz and pop blend, while incorporating folk music to her musical blend. Dreaming Wide Awake was released in June 2005, and reached No. 1 on the Top Contemporary Jazz chart in 2005 and 2006. In 2008, Wright released The Orchard to positive reviews.

In 2010, Lizz released Fellowship. The album features guest performances by Me-Shell Ndegeocello and vocalist Angelique Kidjo.

“Wright brings her classically trained pipes and deeply soulful sense of phrasing to gospel music. The result is both the fourth straight album to prove that Wright is perhaps the most gifted interpretive vocalist of her generation, and also a profound, moving gospel record.” – Jonathan Keefe, Slant Magazine